Friendship that Lasts
by Aim 1.0
Summary: Natsu, Gray and Lucy's friendship is going to be tested. [AU One-shot]


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FRIENDSHIP THAT LASTS  
By: Dragbuster

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It was summer and first day of class when two boys who were new to the campus were having trouble on finding their room. While they are finding for their room, they accidentally bumped into a girl carrying many books. The girl became frustrated to the two boys who kept on apologizing when school bell rang, making the girl even more frustrated and the boys more worried.

After that, the two boys asked the girl where their section is. Luckily, the girl and the two boys have the same section. The girl escorted the two boys, carrying the girl's books, to their room.

They reached their room and the teacher did not notice them. The girl sat at the back while the teacher introduced herself. She also called the two boys and let them introduce themselves to the class. One boy volunteered himself to introduce himself to the class.

His name is Natsu, a boy rounded eyes, short brown hair and tall body. He told his story to the whole class who do not listen on what he was saying except for the girl he and the other boy bumped earlier. He came from a simple and happy family from a far away town. His life was not tragic until when he was about to enter high school. A fire broke their house, his parents died and what are left in him were his two luggages with his clothes and money for his education. Although his story was tragic, Natsu still told this story to the class with a smile on his face. He said that life must continue and he will fulfill his dreams. After that he let the other boy to introduce himself and went back to his seat at the back.

His name is Gray, a boy with almost the same qualities as Natsu except for his tattoo at his shoulder and his black hair. He did not say much about himself. After he said his name, he hurriedly got back to his seat at the back. The girl became curious about the two boys and introduced herself to them. Her name is Lucy, a beautiful girl with moderately long red hair and rounded eyes. She came from a wealthy and elegant family near the school. It was her second year in that school. She told the two boys to meet her after the class and the two boys agreed afterwards.

While waiting for Natsu and Gray after class, Lucy noticed a cloaked man watching at her. She felt terrified when suddenly Natsu and Gray called her. She looked at them and told them that someone is watching her. She looked back to where the man was standing and noticed that the man disappeared. Natsu and Gray told her that she might just be seeing things and Lucy agreed right away. After that, Lucy introduced the school to Natsu and Gray. She also warned them about one of the most dangerous parts of the island, the forest, especially the forest near the school.

Starting from that day on, the three students frequently see each other after the class. At first, Natsu and Gray were shy towards Lucy but as the time goes by, they began to be more open, telling more of their stories, to Lucy. The three students also became best friends. Lucy also noticed that the man wearing a cloak is watching her more frequently and following her. She told this to Natsu and Gray and the two boys started to believe in her, saying that they will protect her.

Natsu and Gray already became good friends because of the same fate they had during the first day of class. There were only some times when they had some misunderstandings like when they argued about their dreams in life. Even though Natsu always lose these arguments, he still keeps on encouraging Gray to have a positive outlook towards life. Natsu said that there is still hope while they are living.

Contrary to this, Gray sees the negative side of life. In spite of these arguments, Lucy made them best friends by letting them realize that each person has his own perspective towards life, that he cannot force someone to be like him. Understanding one another is the thing they should do so that there would be peace between them. Natsu and Gray thought of this and starting from that time, they began to learn to understand each other.

Winter is starting and all students are preparing for the School Festival, the last festival that is dated on the Christmas Day. It was the time when the vacation will be coming up. Natsu, Gray and Lucy started going out less frequently mainly because of school requirements and the school festival. They only see each other during class hours and did not even talk to each other. Gray easily became frustrated with Natsu when he ask Gray to go out and Lucy started to become absent because of her term paper. Their friendship was slowly fading because of academics. Contrary to this, Natsu still maintained his carefree and optimistic behavior towards his friends. He knew that there would come a time when the three of them would be going out again like the old times.

While preparing for the school festival, Natsu, Gray and Lucy saw each other near the forest near evening. Gray was picking up wood for their room's decoration and Lucy was about to go back to the room bringing some twigs when Natsu called them and asked them to talk to him, even for just a moment. The two agreed and Natsu asked if they can see each other a week after the Christmas. Lucy agreed, but Gray doesn't because he said he will be fixing his problems on his grades. Natsu insisted and Gray became frustrated towards Natsu. Natsu and Gray quarreled and Lucy tried to stop the two. She cannot stop the two and started crying. She asked of what their friendship has become because of simple problems like academics. Natsu and Gray startled and started to wonder what they are doing. They remembered the time they last argued. Lucy kept crying and the two boys stared at each other when Lucy was taken by a man covered with a mask and wearing a cloak. Although they became frightened, they followed the man carrying Lucy.

Natsu and Gray do not care about their fear of the dark and they hurriedly followed the man's footsteps. They listened to the man's hustles and intelligently followed it. The sky was then covered with darkness when the two boys realize that they are lost in the deep forest. They do not know where they should go. Very tall and thick trees surround the two boys covered with fear and trembled at the shadows of the trees that shaped like monsters. Natsu and Gray were lost; they do not know what they will do when they thought of Lucy. Natsu insisted Gray to continue to find Lucy, but Gray decided to find the way back to the school and ask help from the authorities. Understanding Gray, Natsu parted with him and continued o searching for Lucy. Gray easily found the trail back to the school by finding the tallest tower of the school, the school bell tower.

Knowing his way back, Gray ran back to the school. It was midnight when he came back. He rested for a while in his dormitory situated near the school bell tower. While sleeping, he dreamt of Lucy in a garden full of roses of different colors. He was relieved in his sleep when he saw all roses turning black in his dream. He suddenly woke up and realized that he was late for his first class. It was Christmas Eve. He did not care about his class; instead, he went to the authority and asked help from them. It seemed that Gray himself forgot the events because he thought of having a class that day when it was already Christmas Eve.

The authority said that they will lend help to Gray and asked him to wait for the chief authority. Gray waited for several hours and no one arrives. When the clock strikes at six in the evening, he suddenly got up and said that he himself will find for his friends if the authority cannot.

Gray hurried to the deep forest. He felt the darkness touching his skin, the very cold snow falling to his head and the biting cold of the ground climbing from his feet to his head. He did not care about these things but instead, his focus was on finding Lucy and Natsu. He kept on walking and walking.

Meanwhile, Natsu, starving on hunger and feeling cold, also kept on looking for Lucy. His spirit did not give up on finding his beloved friend. His optimistic spirit kept him going and his burning attitude towards the man who took Lucy became more and more powerful when he heard footsteps, hustles or voices of the wind. It seemed that his psychological behavior was influenced by the loss of Lucy. He only thought of himself about saying his true feelings towards Lucy, making him regret himself. He walked until the ends of the island, towards caves and swam on rivers. But as time goes by, his hope and faith slowly fades.

It was almost midnight when Natsu saw a house made out of wood. His hope and faith were brought back to life and he suddenly remembered what he and Gray promised to Lucy. He heard screams of one he was familiar with, loud screams that seems like it was asking for help. Natsu became curious and checked at the window of the house but he saw no one. Instead, he noticed a little light in one room of the house. He quickly got into the house by the window. A man asked who came in loudly. Natsu hid in the darkness, and when he noticed that the shadow faded, he quickly got out into the room and saw a woman he is familiar with tied up and a cloaked man holding a gun. Natsu quickly fought the man, and he was simply pushed by the kidnapper. Natsu was about to get shot by the man when a shadow from the darkness came out and blocked the shot. The shadow, familiar to Natsu's eyes, quickly got down and fainted.

Natsu's spirit seemed to fire up again; he got up and excellently grabbed the gun of the kidnapper staring at the fainted man. Natsu shot him several times because of anger. The cloaked man died, Natsu untied the girl and went to fainted man's body. The fainted man does not breathe anymore and he seemed to be dead. The dead man became more familiar to Natsu when the little light illuminated his face. The dead man was Gray, Natsu's best friend. The girl cried so loud after she saw Gray's dead body that only the nature can hear them. Natsu recognized the girl's cry and realized that it was the girl he wanted to save all along, Lucy. It was Christmas dawn when Natsu buried Gray and the kidnapper. Natsu and Lucy went back to their school and spent Christmas together. Christmas Day for them was not a happy day; it is a day of mourning.


End file.
